Great Tales from English History The Truth About King Arthur, Lady Godiva, Richard the Lionheart, and More

by Lacey, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780316109109
• ISBN10: 031610910X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-03
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Summary

From ancient times to the present day, the story of England has been laced with drama, intrigue, courage, and passion-a rich and vibrant narrative of heroes and villains, kings and rebels, artists and highwaymen, bishops and scientists.Now, in Great Tales from English History, Robert Lacey captures some of the most pivotal moments: the stories and extraordinary characters that helped shape a nation. This first volume begins in 7150 BC with the intriguing life and death of Cheddar Man and ends in 1381 with Wat Tyler and the Peasants' Revolt.We meet the Greek navigator Pytheas, whose description of the woad-painted Celts yielded pretannik ('the land of the painted people'), which became the Latin word Britannia. We learn what the storytellers really meant when they described Lady Godiva's 'nakedness.'And we discover the truth behind the tales of King Arthur and the infamous Hobbehod, later to be known as 'Robin Hood.'

Author Biography

Robert Lacey is the coauthor of The Year 1000 and the author of such bestselling books as Majesty, The Kingdom, and The Queen Mother's Century. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

Anglo-Saxon and Norman England	ix
England's Norman and Angevin, or Plantagenet, Kings	x
The Angevin Empire of Henry II	xi
Introduction: Storytelling	xiii
c.7150 BC Cheddar Man	1	(2)
c.325 BC Pytheas and the Painted People	3	(5)
55 BC The Standard-bearer of the 10th	8	(4)
AD 1-33 And Did Those Feet? Jesus Christ and the Legends of Glastonbury	12	(4)
AD 43 The Emperor Claudius Triumphant	16	(2)
AD 61 Boadicea, Warrior Queen	18	(5)
AD 122 Hadrian's Wall	23	(5)
AD 410-c.600 Arthur, Once and Future King	28	(4)
c.AD 575 Pope Gregory's Angels	32	(4)
AD 597 St Augustine's Magic	36	(4)
AD 664 King Oswy and the Crown of Thorns	40	(4)
c.AD 680 Caedmon, the First English Poet	44	(4)
AD 672/3-735 The Venerable Bede	48	(5)
AD 878 Alfred and the Cakes	53	(7)
AD 911-18 The Lady of the Mercians	60	(4)
AD 978-1016 Ethelred the Unready	64	(5)
c.AD 1010 Elmer the Flying Monk	69	(3)
AD 1016-35 King Canute and the Waves	72	(5)
AD 1042-66 Edward the Confessor	77	(6)
c.AD 1043 The Legend of Lady Godiva	83	(6)
AD 1066 The Year of Three Kings	89	(6)
AD 1066 The Death of Brave King Harold	95	(5)
AD 1070 Hereward the Wake and the Norman Yoke	100	(5)
AD 1086 The Domesday Book	105	(5)
AD 1100 The Mysterious Death of William Rufus	110	(5)
AD 1120 Henry I and the White Ship	115	(6)
AD 1135-54 Stephen and Matilda	121	(5)
AD 1170 Murder in the Cathedral	126	(8)
AD 1174 A King Repents	134	(4)
AD 1172 The River-bank Take-away	138	(3)
AD 1189-99 Richard the Lionheart	141	(8)
AD 1215 John Lackland and Magna Carta	149	(8)
AD 1225 Hobbehod, Prince of Thieves	157	(4)
AD 1265 Simon de Montfort and his Talking-place	161	(9)
AD 1284 A Prince Who Speaks No Word of English	170	(5)
AD 1308 Piers Gaveston and Edward II	175	(9)
AD 1346 A Prince Wins His Spurs	184	(6)
AD 1347 The Burghers of Calais	190	(4)
AD 1347-9 The Fair Maid of Kent and the Order of the Garter	194	(4)
AD 1348-9 The Great Mortality	198	(5)
AD 1376 The Bedside Manner of a Plague Doctor	203	(4)
AD 1377 The Dream of Piers the Ploughman	207	(5)
AD 1381 The `Mad Multitude'	212	(11)
Bibliography and Source Notes	223	(18)
Exploring the Original Sources	241	(2)
Acknowledgements	243	(2)
Index	245